Medical Inpatient Behavioral Health Unit – Huntsman Mental Health Institute

FFKR worked closely with Huntsman Mental Health Institute (HMHI) and UHealth in remodeling the 5th floor of the University Hospital to create a new home for the HMHI Inpatient Medical Behavioral Health Unit. This new space will provide 12 patient beds for individuals with a medical and psychiatric comorbidity diagnosis. Design discussions with the University’s User Groups included a heavy emphasis on providing safety-conscious elements while creating a comfortable, non-institutional, and healing environment for this vulnerable patient population. The project meets mental health facility standards and psychiatric best practices with a focus on ligature resistance and safety design, fixtures, and equipment. As adjacent inpatient units surrounded the project area occupied 24 hours a day, the project required careful coordination of scheduling, phasing, and construction sequencing.